Integrative Medicine & Functional Medicine

​What is integrative medicine and functional medicine?

 

Integrative medicine and functional medicine (colloquially referred to as "holistic medicine") share the same roots of focusing on whole-person healing, in body, mind, and spirit. This is done through using the best of scientific evidence, lifestyle interventions, as well as therapeutic modalities that have withstood the test of time, to achieve healing at a fundamental level. 

 

Integrative medicine is the current term used to refer to the field of medicine that applies the above principles systematically and rigorously. Older terms, such as alternative medicine (which refers to the use of non-conventional therapeutics instead of conventional Western medicine) or complementary medicine (which refers to the use of non-conventional therapeutic strategies along with concurrent conventional treatments, albeit not in an integrated manner), are now less frequently used.

 

Integrative medicine integrates conventional Western (allopathic) medicine with complementary therapeutic modalities and lifestyle interventions in a way that allows an individual to truly achieve health through a holistic medicine approach. An integrative medicine doctor helps patients remove the barriers to healing and support the body’s innate ability to heal itself, making it possible to reduce or eliminate the use of medications that are often costly and side-effects laden.

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Prominent national organizations in the U.S. that advance the field of integrative medicine include the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health (ACIMH), an organization made up of over 70 academic Institutions and health systems, and the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM), an inter-professional membership association of health care practitioners. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is a U.S. government agency (one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health) that funds research related to integrative medicine.

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Functional medicine can be considered a subspecialty of integrative medicine. What distinguishes functional medicine from the more general integrative medicine is the use of a systems approach to understand how an individual’s underlying physiologic processes, lifestyle influences, environmental factors, and unique health history combine to manifest in imbalances, dysfunctions, and diseases. A functional medicine doctor applies this understanding to develop personalized treatment plans that address health and disease at a fundamental level. This systems approach has been refined over time by leaders in functional medicine. A standardized, replicable methodology of delivering this type of clinical care is now promulgated by the Institute for Functional Medicine, a national organization that provides training and certification for licensed health care practitioners in functional medicine.

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For patients who have chronic symptoms or diseases, or for those who wish to stay healthy and enjoy longevity with a good quality of life, removing the body’s barriers to healing and supporting the body’s ability to constantly heal itself is fundamental to the practice of integrative and functional medicine, and makes it possible to reverse or prevent the development of disease in the first place. When this is achieved, patients marvel at how their lives are forever changed, in ways that would not have been possible without having taken the path to health and healing through the mindful practice of integrative medicine and functional medicine.

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Conditions we treat through the integrative and functional medicine approach include (not an exhaustive list):